The first changes are underway. Very soon I’ll be able to post the British cover for Darkness, and the American cover for The Light of Burning Shadows. I love them both!
In really cool news (and after much negotiating with lawyers…ok, no lawyers) the marketing phenoms better known as my parents will once again head north, this time from their winter tanning grounds in Florida, to tell everyone they find how wonderful their son is (tough luck for my brother, all he does is save children for a living). Publicity Tour 2.0 “This time it’s parental” gets under way in another week. They’ll be stopping in at bookstores all along the eastern seaboard as they trek back to Canada, armed with all sorts of free goodies courtesy of Pocket Books. I’ll be charting their progress here and giving a shout out to the friendly bookstore staff they meet.
My folks really are aces for doing this, especially when you factor in the monster RV they’re driving around in. Last year’s tour took them from Texas to Canada, this year they start out in Florida…maybe next year I can convince them to winter in California…
Covers are OK, but where is THE MAP? And may I ask you some questions about your book? Technical mostly.
The map is coming…soon. My designer is working her magic as we speak. Hopefully in the next few days.
Sure, fire away.
Thank you. I’m now translating your book into Russian, so the questions will be rather specific. 😉
1) Languages. Do you have some consistent system of languages? Are some languages related to one another? How should they sound? For instance, languages of elves or of elfkynan – how should they feel, pleasant, or harsh, or something else? Do they remind of some languages existing here on Earth? About human names – some of them resemble contemporary English names, but some don’t – which language(s) the last ones are from? I’m interested especially in pronunciation. The problem is that in Russian everything is pronounced just like it is written: the name “Jaal”, for instance, can be written «Джаал», «Жаал», «Яал», and so on, but in any case it will be pronounced in one way only. That is why the pronunciation is my problem, not the reader’s. If you are not especially interested in languages, it’s OK, I’ll make some system myself, but if you have some preferences, I should know them. 😉 If the questions above are too complex to answer, I can simply send you the names in question, for you to explain how exactly they should sound.
2) The map. How long will those “few days” last? 😉 The Iron Elves are now marching to Luuguth Jor, and I would like to know exactly where they are marching. It would make my work much easier. I can go without widgets, silver-foil rivers and jeweled cities, just any map would do. ;-))
A pair of more particular questions.
3) What do you mean by “parchment”? There is “the parchment”, in the next phrase it turns to “the paper”, then it’s “the parchment” and “the paper” by turns. Why are they using parchment at all (except making souvenir maps)? The civilisation is quite advanced…
4) Jurwan has the halberd. Real Elves like him never use iron and steel, so I presume the halberd is wooden. What does it look like? (The last question is pure curiosity, I don’t need it for my work.)
I’m sorry for my English, I know it’s horrible. But I translate from it, not into it, and I understand (written) English quite well, so don’t worry about your book. 😉
Answers are being emailed to you right now.
Wow. Your parents sound great.
Looking forward to seeing your new website and the cover for Book 2! Your first was incredible, so I can’t wait to see what they’ve done with the second. 🙂
Doh. Yeah, um, forgot to sign in… 😀
Thanks. The website is getting closer, as is the cover.
How are things with yours? Are you now debuting in the fall, or was it always slated for November?
Things are going great, thanks! Just got copy edits and I’m supposed to have a cover shortly. Yeah, debuting in Nov. I think at first S&S was thinking about summer, but Nov. ended up being a better time slot for me. Take care! 🙂